The exoplanet revolution: towards habitable worlds

Abstract

In the nearly 30 years since the discovery of the first exoplanets, planet detection has continued to accelerate, driven in large part by the space-based transit missions Kepler/K2 and TESS; there are now more than 5000 confirmed exoplanets. These detections have enabled insights into the demographics of the exoplanet population, and hence into the formation and migration processes that sculpted the planetary systems that we observe today. As we begin to place our own planetary system into a Galactic context, there have been innumerable surprises such as the discovery that the most common type of planet is not represented in our Solar System. Meanwhile, bright transiting systems, such as those discovered by TESS, are increasingly amenable to atmospheric characterisation with existing ground-based facilities, as well as with JWST. In the near future, the ESA Ariel mission and the ground-based ELTs will continue to expand the available parameter for atmospheric exploration. Finally, ESA's upcoming PLATO mission will enhance our planet detection abilities, putting Earth-like planets in reach for the first time.